


Stay a Step Ahead

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Pre-Series, Stakeout
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal loved Kate and Moz, he really did, but right now he felt wearily like he was the only adult in the whole neighborhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay a Step Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the stakeout in 1.05. Vague spoilers for 2.09 & 2.11. For wc_rewatch. Thanks to mergatrude for beta. <3

> Neal: You think they'd have a satellite for things like this.  
>  Peter: Only thing a satellite's going to tell us is that he's not on the roof.  
>  _1.04 The Portrait_  
> 

   
   
“You know, even government agencies don’t do stakeouts anymore,” said Mozzie from the back seat. “They have satellites with thermal imaging. It’s all done from a desk in Utah or Langley. Not only that, but we’re only a few years away from remote genetic-marker tracking, and then it’ll all be over. Sedatives in the water supply, twenty-four seven location monitoring, eavesdropping on every phone call and email—”

“I’m sure.” Barely listening, Neal turned his binoculars on the second floor of the museum. There were at least two security guards patrolling. He checked the time and made a notation in his notebook. “So why didn’t you hack the government satellite and save us eight hours of recon?”

“Are you crazy?” Moz nearly choked. “I’m not putting myself on their radar, not even for a 4000-year-old Irish lunula.”

“I bet even when cops did do stakeouts, they didn’t bring sky vermin with them,” said Kate around a mouthful of chocolate. She balled up a botched attempt at an origami crane and threw it at the crate in the back beside Mozzie.

“Hey, Estelle is not vermin! And we have to maintain contact around the clock for the next ten days. We’re in a very important stage of our bonding process, aren’t we baby?” Mozzie crooned, and Estelle cooed back to him. Her crate was giving off an increasingly strong odor of guano.

Neal had already objected to her presence in vain, so he just rolled his eyes and renewed his sweep of the building, top to bottom, back and forward. He was taking this heist seriously, even if the others weren’t. They needed to get the gold lunula from the Ancient Irish Treasures exhibition—Hale had already lined up a buyer. And otherwise Neal would have to cash in another bond to cover rent and utilities, which would be especially risky now Burke had seen his face.

On the police scanner, someone called in a 10-34. Assault in progress. “Shots fired,” said the crackly report. Kate sighed and flicked it off, turning on the car radio instead and singing along with the Beatles in a voice hoarse from coughing. _...you know you twist so fine, come on and twist a little closer now, and let me know that you’re mine..._

She swayed in her seat, twining her arms in the air, then took a sheet of paper out of her bulging messenger bag and started folding another paper crane. The car was littered with them—in various stages of completion because Kate was on cold medication and her attention span was shot to hell. “I can’t believe I’m missing _Numb3rs_ for this.”

“You don’t have to be here,” Neal reminded her for the third or fourth time. “You said you didn’t want to stay home alone.” He killed the radio and switched the scanner back on. If someone called in a suspicious parked car full of pigeons and paper cranes outside the Channing, he wanted to hear about it.

Kate pouted. “I don’t. How much longer?”

“An hour,” said Neal, making another note in the security schedule. “Maybe two. Are you sure you don’t want me to call you a cab?”

“Yeah. I’ll just meditate or something.” She slouched down, blew her nose and dropped the used tissue into the chaos of origami at her feet. In the back, Mozzie was talking to Estelle in Esperanto. Neal refused to translate; he didn’t want to know. He was just glad this wasn’t his car, and he wouldn’t be the one to clean up and get the smells out. 

Mozzie had borrowed it from an associate who owed him a favor. 

A light came on in the main gallery on the second floor, and two security guards stopped in their rounds to contemplate a cubist nude. One of them made an obscene gesture, and Neal rolled his eyes. He loved Kate and Moz, he really did, but between them and the juvenile security guards, right now he felt wearily like he was the only adult in the whole neighborhood.

“I’m hungry,” announced Moz suddenly. “Did either of you happen to bring any lactose-free snacks?”

“Just buttered popcorn and milk chocolate. Sorry, Moz.” Kate dug through her bag. “Oh wait, I have an apple. Do you want it?”

“How biblical of you.” Mozzie took the offered fruit and examined it carefully, as if for razorblades. “Shouldn’t you be tempting Neal with this?”

“Oh, we’re way past that. Neal was the one who tempted me from the path of righteousness and innocence, remember. He was the serpent.”

“Not sure how I feel about that designation,” said Neal, drawn into the exchange despite himself. He had to defend his honor, after all. “Think of me as more of a guardian angel.” He took her hand and kissed it gallantly.

“Not even close, Nick Halden.” But Kate grinned and leaned her head on his shoulder. “A very beguiling silver-tongued snake.”

“Either way, I object to the role of the hapless Adam,” said Mozzie. He bit into the apple, pulled off a small chunk and fed it to Estelle. 

“It’s either that or Lilith,” said Kate, moving away to blow her nose again. “I don’t think you qualify for God.”

“Genesis really needs more trickster spirits,” said Mozzie, disapprovingly. “The cast is—Wait, is that a pizza delivery?”

Neal twisted around to see where Moz was looking. An old Ford with a pizza sign on the roof had pulled up to the curb. Neal unfastened his seatbelt. He had to time this exactly right so he could observe the entry without being spotted, and unfortunately the staff entrance was around the corner, away from the road. He’d have to go on foot.

“You watch Estelle. I’ve got this,” said Mozzie, before Neal could make his move. He slid out of the car and vanished into the shadows, and Neal chewed the corner of his thumb and waited, squinting uselessly into the gloom. 

Kate turned the radio back on, softly this time, so he could still hear the police scanner over the guitar cords. _...how you remind me, this is how you remind me of what I really am..._

“He’ll get it—the security code, the way in. Whatever it is,” she told Neal. “And then you’ll break in and steal the lunula in a feat of daring genius, and I’ll get better from my cold, and you and I will have celebratory heist sex for _hours_ , while Mozzie and Estelle coo love songs to each other.”

It sounded clear and simple as she said it, and Neal could see that future unfolding before them, a beautiful exciting road full of priceless treasures and thrills, with the Feds trailing after to analyze and appreciate their skill. It was perfect. 

They simply had to stay always, always one step ahead.

 

END


End file.
